The Russian Connection

[Cartmann99]

3 hours ago, Howl said:

Is he your rep or are you true West Texas?  I always think of West Texas as south of I 10, and all of Big Bend to El Paso and maybe Langtry, but that's just me. 

I am hardheaded, ornery, and would argue with a fence post, so I guess so!  

I live in the western half of the 11th Congressional district. I consider my part of the district to be part of West Texas, but not Far West Texas like Marfa, Fort Davis, etc...

3 hours ago, Howl said:

Conaway's 11th Congressional district is weird (to me); it goes from west of Lampasas, picks up San Angelo and Midland/Odessa to the NM border. 

It is a weird district. I've been told that the people on the eastern side of the district get this thing called rain on a semi-regular basis.  

3 hours ago, Howl said:

I'm not sure if Conaway has been hiding his light under a bushel for all these years, or if he's just been hiding under it.  He's got to be in tight with Oil & Gas if he's representing Midland/Odessa, and ranching for the rest of it. 

He's pretty quiet, but after over a decade in office, he knows how the game is played. I vehemently disagree with him, but I admit that he does know how to put Jesus-flavored frosting on his Ayn Rand cookies. He doesn't call it that of course, but to those of us who are paying attention, it's obvious what he and his friends are doing.

When you talk about how much you value life, and then turn around and vote for things that make the lives of non-fetus Americans much more difficult, I call foul on you.

[RoseWilder]

6 hours ago, sawasdee said:

The true horror of all of this, is that both the House and the Senate are putting partisan politics above country. They are pussyfooting about a true investigation until they get the legislation they want passed.

As far as I am concerned this is unethical, immoral and maybe downright treasonous.

They should all be voted out, and investigated up the wazoo.

I think it goes beyond wanting legislation passed. I think they're stalling the investigation because a lot of them (the Republicans in Congress) are part of the Russian scandal. 

Can anyone give me more information on former Bill Clinton White House staffer Claude Taylor. Is he a reputable person? I was in high school, and not paying any attention to politics, when Bill Clinton was president, so I'm not familiar with Claude Taylor. Taylor is saying that he's hearing talk that Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan were in on the Russia scandal: 

https://www.palmerreport.com/politics/intel-community-chatter-paul-ryan-and-mitch-mcconnell-caught-red-handed-in-trump-russia-scandal/2333/

Quote

One is former Bill Clinton White House staffer Claude Taylor, who stated today that he’s “Starting to hear chatter that there are intercepts w/ Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell discussing funneling illegal Russian money into campaign”. He went on to stress that “This really is ‘chatter’ as opposed to sourced,” making clear that this is not confirmed on his end.

But then another pundit whose sources have also proven reliable, ImpeachAgentOrangsky, added that “According to anonymous intel sources Ryan & McConnell are on tape talking about laundering Russian money thru Super Pacs”. So take this one for what you think it’s worth. But two things are important to keep in mind here. The first is that these kinds of leaks from proven sources have tended to later be proven correct. For instance the prior leaks about Trump-Russia figures ranging from Michael Flynn to Paul Manafort to Carter Page have generally been verified further down the line. So these kinds of credible Trump-Russia leaks are worth reporting and considering.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

14 minutes ago, RoseWilder said:

I think it goes beyond wanting legislation passed. I think they're stalling the investigation because a lot of them (the Republicans in Congress) are part of the Russian scandal. 

Can anyone give me more information on former Bill Clinton White House staffer Claude Taylor. Is he a reputable person? I was in high school, and not paying any attention to politics, when Bill Clinton was president, so I'm not familiar with Claude Taylor. Taylor is saying that he's hearing talk that Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan were in on the Russia scandal: 

https://www.palmerreport.com/politics/intel-community-chatter-paul-ryan-and-mitch-mcconnell-caught-red-handed-in-trump-russia-scandal/2333/

 

I was actually out of school during both of Clinton's terms in office. I'm not familiar with Claude Taylor. Consulting Dr. Google, it looks like he's now a professional photographer. So, I'm not sure of his credentials/reputability.  I do agree that it is likely there are a mind-boggling number of Repubs (and likely at least a few Dems) who are involved in the Russia scandal.

[fraurosena]

Here's Keith Olbermann, weighing in on Louise Mensch:

 

(Tiny side note for those that want to marry Keith: go to his twitter page. He's already committed. To yours truly. Three times, no less. )

[RoseWilder]

Bloomberg has a new Trump-Russia story: 

Did we know about this connection yet? I can't keep up. 

[fraurosena]

11 minutes ago, RoseWilder said:

Bloomberg has a new Trump-Russia story: 

Did we know about this connection yet? I can't keep up. 

I think I remember we had some posts a while back on the island meeting. I'll have to look it up though.

Just looked and @GreyhoundFan posted about Blackwater and the Seychelles meeting on page 5 of this thread.

[RoseWilder]

1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

I think I remember we had some posts a while back on the island meeting. I'll have to look it up though.

Just looked and @GreyhoundFan posted about Blackwater and the Seychelles meeting on page 5 of this thread.

Thanks. I've been so busy lately, I can't seem to keep up with the Russia news and it's all starting to blur together. 

[fraurosena]

Tell me about it! There's so much going on, and not only with Russia. It's hard to keep up. I think it's because this thing is so big and all-encompassing, and such a great number of people are involved.

This is truly a scandal of epic proportions, and I wonder if everything will ever all come out, even when this whole thing eventually blows up... Let's hope that soon though, if only for our sanity's sake!

[GreyhoundFan]

"On Russia, Trump and his top national security aides seem to be at odds"

Quote

The message was defiantly optimistic, like a suitor determined to hold a relationship together despite mounting obstacles.

“Things will work out fine between the U.S.A. and Russia,” ­President Trump declared on his Twitter account last week. “At the right time everyone will come to their senses & there will be lasting peace!”

Trump’s interest in achieving warm relations with Moscow has been a consistent theme since the earliest days of his campaign, and it stands now as one of the few major foreign policy positions that he has not discarded or revised since taking office.

But in his devotion to this outcome, Trump appears increasingly isolated within his own administration. Over the past several weeks, senior members of Trump’s national security team have issued blistering critiques of Moscow, using harsh terms that have led to escalating tensions between the countries and seem at odds with the president.

The harsh rhetoric — and the apparent lack of any rebuke from Trump — suggests that Russian skeptics have gained influence in the administration, making the rapprochement that Trump envisioned seem increasingly remote.

In a speech at the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley lashed out at Russia for its role in Syria, asking “how many more children have to die before Russia cares” enough to prevent Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from committing further atrocities.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson accused Russia of being “incompetent or complicit” in the chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of Syrian civilians.

CIA Director Mike Pompeo went even further in an appearance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington last week, depicting Moscow as an unredeemable adversary. Though Trump has repeatedly praised Russian President Vladi­mir Putin, Pompeo described him as “a man for whom veracity doesn’t translate into English.”

The statements have created confusion about the Trump administration’s posture toward Russia and have put senior officials, including Haley, in the awkward position of having to explain why Trump has yet to echo any of their harsh words.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Foreign policy experts close to the administration played down the apparent disconnect between Trump’s statements and those of his national security subordinates, saying that Trump’s words about Russia were often misinterpreted to signal he intended to be soft.

“There was never anything in the plan about being nice to the Russians,” said James Carafano, the vice president of foreign and defense policy at the Heritage Foundation, who served as an adviser to Trump during the campaign and post-election transition.

“I don’t think any of this is a U-turn, a reversal or a shift,” Carafano said. He noted that Trump’s decision to bomb an airstrip in Syria where the Russian military had worked with Assad’s forces and Trump’s recent vocal support for NATO demonstrate his willingness to defy Putin.

“Trump doesn’t have to do Russia bashing” and is probably seeking to leave an opening for Putin to pursue better relations with the United States, Carafano said. “The fact that [Trump’s officials] are not mimicking the exact same words doesn’t mean they’re not on the same sheet of music.”

...

Asked about mounting concerns in Europe over alleged Moscow interference in elections and calls for bolstering Europe’s military defenses, Trump had no words of caution for the Kremlin.

“Right now there is a fear, and there are problems,” he said. “But ultimately, I hope that there won’t be a fear and there won’t be problems and the world can get along. That would be the ideal situation.”

Trump’s tack with Russia seems at odds with his approach toward other global powers and issues. He threatened to label China a currency manipulator and to cut off U.S. support for NATO, for example, before retreating from those positions in recent weeks.

His posture toward Moscow is also seen as a reflection of Trump’s reluctance to acknowledge that Russia interfered in the U.S. election and, based on the consensus view of U.S. intelligence agencies, sought to help him win.

Critics said the administration’s competing messages have caused concern overseas. Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said that he recently attended a security conference in Munich where there were “profound questions among our allies about just where this administration is coming from.”

“They don’t see the president yet willing to take on Putin or to criticize him directly,” Schiff said. “It doesn’t mater what others in his Cabinet said. If they didn’t hear it from the president, they didn’t really believe it was administration policy.”

Senior administration officials have struggled to explain the disparity between their comments — including statements suggesting that Russia may have known that Assad was about to launch a chemical weapons attack — and those of the president.

...

Juan Zarate, a former national security official who advised Pompeo during his confirmation as CIA chief, said that he sees Trump’s continued conciliatory messages toward Moscow as a means of preserving options for the administration in its dealings with Russia.

“I worry less about what appears to be some discordance because I think you can have flexibility in messaging,” Zarate said. “But you do have to have consistency in policy. For now it seems like we do. In fact the policy seems to be getting more vigorous and confrontational.”

But Zarate also noted Trump’s tendency to “double down on positions.” Trump was criticized for seeming lenient toward Moscow, “and lo and behold he’s going to stick to his line.”

Moscow has also noticed the administration’s competing messages. After a series of sharp exchanges with senior U.S. officials, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this week that Moscow would focus on signals from the president.

“We will be guided by what President Donald Trump once again confirmed . . . that he wants to improve relations with the Russian Federation,” Lavrov said. “We are also ready for that.”

 

[fraurosena]

I have just found an article which contains information that has the potential to blow things wide open.

The Budapest Bridge: Hungary’s Role in the Collusion Between the Trump Campaign and the Russian Secret Service

The article is essentially the first of a two part essay. It's quite lengthy, so I'll quote the most juicy stuff, but I heartily recommend reading the whole thing. 

Quote

[...]

This first, of a two part series, summarizes some fresh evidence about the nature of the collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign. It will provide some empirically verifiable evidence of the electoral impact of the Russian leaks, in the context of the strategic aspirations of the Trump campaign.

We do not claim to have any insight into the evidence at the disposal of the FBI about the alleged collusion between the Trump team and the Russian secret service. What we have, is evidence, that the FBI is forbidden by law to investigate, because it lies outside the territory of the USA. [...]

Our investigation has uncovered „the smoking gun” about the relationship between the Trump campaign and the Russian secret services. It shows that the connection between the Russian secret services and the Trump campaign is not a direct one. It did not run through the Russian embassy in the US or through the spies that have been expelled by Obama. It did not run through New York City or Moscow, or in conversations between campaign staff and the Russian ambassador to the US. It ran through Budapest, which is the European Headquarters of Putin’s FSB. Budapest was the „bridge” between the Trump campaign and the Russian secret service. 

Some of our evidence is well known. It is known, for example, that the Russians and the Trump campaign had identical strategic interests. They both wanted to position Hillary Clinton as a „crooked and untrustworthy” candidate. What has not been known, up to now is, that the unacknowledged architect of this grand strategy was the notoriously secretive Arthur J. Finkelstein, a long time New York associate of Donald Trump, going back to the Roy Cohen days. [...]

Finkelstein introduced Paul Manafort years ago to Putin’s pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarchs, who use their corporate hats, to advance Putin’s fortunes abroad. Finkelstein also had a big hand in Manafort’s addition to the Trump team. Finkelstein has also served as chief political strategist for the past 10 years, to Putin’s most loyal follower in the Western alliance – the Hungarian PM, Viktor Orbán. Finkie, as Orbán is fond to call him, also works for some of the most notorious autocrats of the former Soviet Republics, and always indirectly, so his pay-masters can’t be easily identified – a skill that he passed on to Trump’s ex-campaign chairman, Manafort.

Virtually the entire top tier of the Trump campaign, including Roger Ailes and Roger Stone, have close personal ties to the man, who is known worldwide, as „The Merchant of Venom”. [...]

The Hungarian government’s corrupt passport system, enables Russia’s top operatives to work and travel without any restrictions within the EU, and more importantly, to travel to the USA without a visa. Hungary’s bank laws provide an impenetrable financial shelter to those who are dealing with Putin’s secret services. Orbán’s Ministry of the Interior provides a protective umbrella against internet and telephone snooping. It is no coincidence that Europe’s most notorious right-wing populists, anti-Semites and anti-Muslim radicals, such as Holland’s Gert Wilders and Britain’s Nick Griffin, have established residences in Hungary. It is no coincidence that Putin is a frequent secret visitor. It is also not a coincidence that Finkelstein has a home in Budapest, and was, until recently, in weekly contact with Vladimir Putin’s most loyal Hungarian surrogate, Viktor Orbán. [...]

Finkelstein and Orbán’s top Hungarian strategist, Árpád Habony, have a London based joint company, close to the headquarters of Wikileaks. The Russian leakage of embarrassing information about Hillary Clinton, was coordinated through Budapest, and London, and was designed to lower Clinton’s trustworthiness at pre-planned moments during the campaign. [...]

Who were the principals on „The Budapest Bridge” the FBI and Congress should investigate particularly closely, apart from Arthur Finkelstein ? The investigations should include Jo Anne Barnhart, Finkelstein’s close personal friend, and managing director of the Hungarian government’s secretive lobby arm in the US, the „Magyar Foundation”. It should include another Finkelstein protegé, and Hungarian lobbyist, ex-congressman Connie Mack IV. The latter is the recipient of a 5 million dollar contract, through a third party, to promote Putin’s Hungarian disciple in America. The Congressional investigators should also talk to Senator Sessions’ right hand man during the campaign, J.D. Gordon, who travelled six times to Budapest, and considers Putin’s Trojan Horse as one of the finest leaders within the Western alliance. Last, but not least, the FBI and the Congressional team should investigate Sebastian Gorka, Bannon’s „terrorism expert” and a man with a 15 year connection to anti-American, pro-Russian, pro-Iranian radicals in Hungary.

I can hardly wait for the second installment...

[Howl]

On 4/18/2017 at 9:18 AM, fraurosena said:

Just looked and @GreyhoundFan posted about Blackwater and the Seychelles meeting on page 5 of this thread.

Wasn't sure if I had posted this previously, but on April 4, 2017, TalkingPointsMemo.com posted this article:  The Possible Backstory behind the Secret Visit by Trump Envoy Erik Prince

Keep in mind that Erik Prince  now lives, and has headquartered his current company, in Dubai.  Briefly, 

Quote

According to the Washington Post story, what Prince, under the aegis of the United Arab Emirates, was trying to broker was a deal by which Russia would sever its ties with Iran in exchange for unspecified (at least in the story) administration concessions to Russia. If so, this explains some of Trump’s recent foreign policy initiatives in the Middle East and should raise alarm bells among everyone who worries about further and deeper involvement in that region’s conflicts.

Link to WaPo article here. 

Keep in mind that Erik Prince is an amoral scumbag.  And Betsy De Vos' brother. 

Salon posted this piece an hour ago, and yes, there's a conservative Christian, Mike Pence link: 

How much do we know about Blackwater founder Erik Prince — and his secretive role in shaping Trump’s foreign policy? Founder of a disgraced mercenary outfit that committed war crimes in Iraq, Erik Prince is way too close to Trump

Quote

To anyone familiar with Prince and his history, this was an ominous sign. Blackwater had been so tarnished by criminal activity during the Iraq War, including convictions for the murders of Iraqi civilians, including children, that Prince had to rename the company more than once and his personal reputation was shredded. Prince and his family had a long association with Mike Pence, however, through mutual religious and political affiliations based on a militant theocratic worldview. Prince and his sister Betsy DeVos, now the Secretary of Education, were big donors to Trump’s campaign. Considering that Trump’s knowledge of world affairs can barely fill a shot glass, seeing Prince among his inner circle of advisers is unnerving to say the least.

Today I just can't grok the total immensity of the circle jerk that is the Trump presidency. 

[fraurosena]

Once you start digging, all you find is dirt, and more dirt.

Ethics Complaint Filed Against Former Trump Aide Paul Manafort for Possible Racketeering

Quote

An ethics complaint has been filed against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort alleges he may have possibly engaged in racketeering.

J. Whitfield Larrabee, an attorney in Brookeline, Mass., filed an ethics complaint with the Connecticut Bar alleging that over the course of the last 10 years, “Manafort engaged in unethical and illegal conduct that make him unfit to practice law.”

Larrabee claims Manafort has done more to damage the process of government “by illegally concealing his efforts to advance the interests of foreign and autocratic governments.” He accused him of engaging in “unethical and illegal acts by accepting millions of dollars in payments that he knew or should have known were stolen or illegally obtained from the people of Ukraine or others.”

The complaint comes as the Associated Press reported that Manafort’s name was found in the Black Ledger that shows he was paid at least $1.2 million by a pro-Russia Ukrainian interests in 2007 and 2009

Larrabee accuses Manafort of maintaining “close association with individual criminals” and “participation in schemes to use shell corporations.” He writes that “the other criminal acts described herein provide reasonable grounds to believe Manafort has engaged in additional fraudulent and criminal activities including, but not limited to, tax evasion, wire fraud, money laundering and racketeering.”

------ split between posts ------

4 minutes ago, Howl said:

mutual religious and political affiliations based on a militant theocratic worldview

Heavens forbid that when the impeachment against the Toddler starts, he becomes president. 

[Howl]

Well, this should be interesting.  Manafort should have enough ill-gotten gains squirreled away in foreign bank accounts that losing his license to practice law won't matter.  However, it is one way to expose him when the political will to investigate is lacking. 

[fraurosena]

Just who is this Sheldon Adelson in the grand scheme of things? Yes, I know he's the owner of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, but what I want to know is: what are his affiliations, really? Does he happen to have ties to Russia too?

Sheldon Adelson Gave $5 Million for Trump’s Inauguration, Filing Shows

Quote

Sheldon G. Adelson, the casino magnate and stalwart Republican donor, gave $5 million to support the festivities surrounding President Trump’s inauguration, according to federal election filings.

The gift was the largest single contribution ever given to an inauguration, but far from the only seven-figure check deposited by the committee responsible for carrying out much of the pomp leading up to Mr. Trump’s swearing-in.

A 510-page disclosure report filed with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday shows more than two dozen million-dollar checks from corporations and wealthy individuals, including Robert K. Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots and a close friend of Mr. Trump’s; Steven A. Cohen and Charles Schwab, both billionaire investors; and Robert R. Parsons, the founder of GoDaddy.com. [...]

The other donors, Kraft, Cohen, Schwab and Parsons need to be investigated as well, of course.

[GreyhoundFan]

47 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Just who is this Sheldon Adelson in the grand scheme of things? Yes, I know he's the owner of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, but what I want to know is: what are his affiliations, really? Does he happen to have ties to Russia too?

Sheldon Adelson Gave $5 Million for Trump’s Inauguration, Filing Shows

The other donors, Kraft, Cohen, Schwab and Parsons need to be investigated as well, of course.

He's a long-time money source for right wing candidates and causes. I haven't seen him in any of the Russia discussions, but it wouldn't surprise me. He was the largest donor to Agent Orange's campaign. Also, he owns the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which I believe was the only major newspaper in the US to endorse the tangerine toddler.

[fraurosena]

4 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

He's a long-time money source for right wing candidates and causes. I haven't seen him in any of the Russia discussions, but it wouldn't surprise me. He was the largest donor to Agent Orange's campaign. Also, he owns the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which I believe was the only major newspaper in the US to endorse the tangerine toddler.

Any alt-reich wing, religious connections? Or just a 'regular' repug - ehhh... repub?

To me, the very fact that he so heavily endorsed and donated to the Toddler, is suspcious enough. I'd be willing to bet money on a Russian connection somewhere.

[GreyhoundFan]

2 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Any alt-reich wing, religious connections? Or just a 'regular' repug - ehhh... repub?

To me, the very fact that he so heavily endorsed and donated to the Toddler, is suspcious enough. I'd be willing to bet money on a Russian connection somewhere.

I'm not familiar with any alt-right connections, but they could be there. I just wouldn't trust anyone who was an early and vocal supporter of Agent Orange...

[fraurosena]

Just now, GreyhoundFan said:

I just wouldn't trust anyone who was an early and vocal supporter of Agent Orange...

You and me both, @GreyhoundFan, you and me both!

[fraurosena]

E-MOL-U-MENTS CLAUSE!!! 

.... and, do we need any more proof for the Russian collusions?

Exxon Seeks U.S. Waiver to Resume Russia Oil Venture

Quote

Exxon Mobil Corp.has applied to the Treasury Department for a waiver from U.S. sanctions on Russia in a bid to resume its joint venture with state oil giant PAO Rosneft, according to people familiar with the matter.

Exxon has been seeking U.S. permission to drill with Rosneft in several areas banned by sanctions and applied in recent months for a waiver to proceed in the Black Sea, according to these people. The company has sought approval for access to the region since at least late 2015, one person said.

The Black Sea request is likely to be closely scrutinized by members of Congress who are seeking to intensify sanctions on Russia in response to what the U.S. said was its use of cyberattacks to interfere with elections last year. Congress has also launched an investigation into whether there were ties between aides to Donald Trump and Russia’s government during the presidential campaign and the political transition.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is Exxon’s former chief executive officer and in that role forged a close working relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and with Rosneft, a company that is critical to Russia’s oil-reliant economy.

The State Department is among the U.S. government agencies that have a say on Exxon’s waiver application, according to current and former U.S. officials.

Mr. Tillerson is recusing himself from any matters involving Exxon for two years, and won’t be involved with any decision made by any government agency involving Exxon during this period, a State Department spokesman said. [...]

I just posted about Tillerson in the Executive Departments thread: he's (verbally) attacking Iran, and comparing them to N-Korea. Now we know what he's trying to deflect. 

[fraurosena]

How long now, before something is done with all this irrefutable information coming out on a daily basis?

Putin-linked think tank drew up plan to sway 2016 U.S. election - documents

Quote

A Russian government think tank controlled by Vladimir Putin developed a plan to swing the 2016 U.S. presidential election to Donald Trump and undermine voters’ faith in the American electoral system, three current and four former U.S. officials told Reuters.

They described two confidential documents from the think tank as providing the framework and rationale for what U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded was an intensive effort by Russia to interfere with the Nov. 8 election. U.S. intelligence officials acquired the documents, which were prepared by the Moscow-based Russian Institute for Strategic Studies [en.riss.ru/], after the election.

The institute is run by retired senior Russian foreign intelligence officials appointed by Putin’s office.[...]

The article is much longer, of course. 

[Cartmann99]

Russia vetoes UN statement on North Korea's missile test:

Quote

 

Russia has derailed a proposed UN Security Council statement that would have condemned North Korea's latest missile launch test, using its veto to torpedo the motion.

The statement, which was tabled by the US, would also tell North Korea not to conduct further nuclear tests.

UN diplomats said the proposed statement had consensus from the other 14 Council members, including China, North Korea's biggest ally and a Council permanent member.

 

 

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/19/asia/russia-un-veto-north-korea/index.html

[fraurosena]

How many degrees of separation does a Duggar have from the Russian Connection? Not at lot, as it turns out. 

Rachel Maddow links the Family Research Council (FRC) to Betsy DeVos and her little brother Erik Prince.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/erik-prince-acted-as-trump-envoy-in-russian-meetings-report-924994115637

For those of you who don't want to watch the video, here's a transcript of the beginning of it, where Rachel makes the link I'm referring to.

Quote

We start tonight with the founding of the Family Research Council. The Family Research Council was founded as a very hardline, religious right activist group in the early nineteen eighties.

James Dobson has always been the figurehead and the prime mover of the Family Research Council. But it’s initial funding came in large part from a Michigan based businessman. A man named Edgar Prince.

Edgar Prince ran a manufacturing company that made auto parts and other stuff in the sixties, seventies and eighties. But what Edgar Prince became famous for was not just his business acumen in Michigan.,It was what he did with his fortune. He put his family fortune into super, super rightwing social conservative advocacy. So anti-gay activism, anti-abortion activism, and anti-pornography activism. Really hard-right social conservative stuff.

The Prince family was one of the richest families in the whole state of Michigan, and they made a big rightwing political impact with that family fortune. That became all the more true when his daughter Betsy married into one of the other richest families in the state of Michigan. She married into the family that controlled the Amway empire. Betsy DeVos represents the unification of the Prince family fortune and the DeVos family fortune, and all of the crusading activism that conservative multi-billion families can muster.

Betsy DeVos is now our secretary of Education in the Trump administration. But her little brother represents a different marriage of fortunes. Betsy DeVos’s younger brother is Erik Prince. Erik Prince represents the marriage of the Prince family fortune, which he was also born into, and the kind of fortune that can be made when you privatize war. [...]

Rachel then goes into the ties Erik Prince has with the tangerine toddler, and the meeting with the Russians on the Seychelles. Essentially all those things we've already talked about earlier in this thread. Hmmmm... you would almost think Rachel reads here!  

[fraurosena]

Another name to add to the list of colluders?

Nicolas Maduro donates to Trump fund despite economic woes

Quote

The president of Venezuela donated $500,000 to Donald Trump's inauguration fund despite the country suffering severe economic problems and food shortages.

Inaugural committee records show Citgo Petroleum, a US affiliate of Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA, was one of the biggest corporate donors to events surrounding the swearing-in ceremony.

The donation topped that of some US firms including Pepsi ($250,000), Walmart ($150,000) and Verizon ($100,000) and was on par with the likes of JP Morgan Chase and Exxon, which each donated $500,000.

It came in under Bank of America's $1m contribution.

To be fair, it does seem that he was merely being sycophantic:

Quote

Nicolas Maduro has been careful not to antagonise the new US president, but the Trump administration has recently stepped up criticism of Venezuela's government.

In February, Mr Trump met the wife of a jailed opposition leader at the White House and on Tuesday the US State Department issued a statement decrying violence against protesters.

"Those responsible for the criminal repression of peaceful democratic activity ... will be held individually accountable for their actions by the Venezuelan people and their institutions, as well as the international community," the statement read.

However, this...

Quote

The South American country has the world's largest oil reserves and once commanded a booming economy, but many Venezuelans accuse Mr Maduro of pilfering the nation's wealth.

... leads me to believe that ties with oil, Russia, and the toddler could well be there after all. In any case, it might be worth looking into.

[GreyhoundFan]

"The White House’s game on Russia has now been fully exposed"

Quote

Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said today that the Committee’s investigation of Russian election interference and possible Trump campaign collusion with it is “back on track” after its controversial chairman, California Republican Devin Nunes, recused himself from the probe. Schiff’s remarks are a hopeful sign that the Committee will finally be able to constructively take on its oversight role.

But there are now new reasons to worry that, if anything, Republicans are even more determined to make sure it doesn’t turn up anything at all. That’s troubling, because Republicans may be successful at subverting the possibility of getting to the bottom of the scandal — which they are now clearly trying to do, by creating a distraction aimed at diverting public attention away from story and instead towards conspiracy theories involving the Obama administration.

Ryan Lizza has a new report in the New Yorker that reveals fresh details about the GOP game plan. The aim is to cast the Russia investigation as another Benghazi — by turning former National Security Advisor Susan Rice into the villain of the story, and fixing the focus of the hearings on her.

That bringing Rice into the investigation is still being contemplated is further evidence of the bad faith of the White House’s approach to this whole tale. All of Trump’s efforts to smear his predecessor, including accusing former President Obama of ordering surveillance of Trump Tower, and claiming that Rice had committed a crime, have been proven false — something Trump and his allies refuse to even acknowledge.

...

Trump himself even joined the fray, asserting — without any evidence — that Rice had committed a crime. But this, again, has been proven false. As CNN reported last week, both Democrats and Republicans who reviewed the relevant classified documents at the National Security Agency headquarters agreed that they contained no evidence of wrongdoing by Obama administration officials, including Rice. Intelligence sources emphasized to CNN that Rice’s requests were “normal and appropriate” and there was nothing in the documents substantiating Trump’s baseless charge that Rice done anything wrong, much less committed a crime.

Nunes’ clumsy handling of the affair, of course, is what led to his recusal from the Committee’s Russia investigation. But that hasn’t apparently diminished Republican interest in keeping Rice front and center. Lizza reports: “Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee are still preparing to focus on Obama’s national-security team, rather than on Vladimir Putin’s.” Rice, he notes, is the first person on their witness list.

Mike Conaway, the Texas Republican who is stepping into Nunes’ role as chair for the Russia investigation, has pledged to stay focused on the subject of the investigation — Russian meddling in the election and any Trump campaign collusion with that effort. But his past statements are concerning. At the Committee’s first open hearing on the matter last month, at which FBI Director James Comey confirmed that the FBI is investigating Russian election interference and collusion with the Trump campaign, Conaway expressed doubts about whether the Russian interference was intended to help Trump, despite the fact that the intelligence community has determined that this is the case.

One thing to watch for now is the role the conservative media — allied with Trump — will likely play in shifting the focus to Rice. Primed by another spurious, politicized GOP investigation involving Rice (Benghazi), conservative pundits are eager to portray Rice as a devious figure in this new narrative. For example, Sharyl Attkisson of the Sinclair Broadcast Group prefaced a segment this week with this teaser:

Hearings are being planned to find out more about whether Obama political officials obtained intelligence to use against Trump associates. News reports recently alleged President Barack Obama’s national security adviser Susan Rice asked to see names of U.S. citizens captured incidentally in surveillance, names normally strictly masked for privacy reasons.

That cued up Attkisson’s interview of South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsay Graham, who pronounced himself “uncomfortable” with what Rice had done. He pledged there would be a Senate hearing at which he would ask intelligence community officials whether Rice had asked for any “unmasking” — even though, as noted above, a bipartisan group from the House determined that this was in the ordinary course of Rice’s job.

It’s reassuring that a bipartisan group of House members has acknowledged they reviewed the NSA materials and concluded that Rice had done nothing wrong. But it now looks as if the House Intelligence Committee will try to embroil Rice in the Russia hearings, anyway. If so, it will show just how far the Committee’s Republicans are willing to go to prop up Trump’s lies — and to distract from efforts to get to the bottom of Russian meddling, as well as any possible Trump campaign collusion with it.

 

[fraurosena]

2 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

It’s reassuring that a bipartisan group of House members has acknowledged they reviewed the NSA materials and concluded that Rice had done nothing wrong. But it now looks as if the House Intelligence Committee will try to embroil Rice in the Russia hearings, anyway. If so, it will show just how far the Committee’s Republicans are willing to go to prop up Trump’s lies — and to distract from efforts to get to the bottom of Russian meddling, as well as any possible Trump campaign collusion with it.

Yeah, because they are covering their own colluding asses. Anyone with half a functioning braincell can see that from a mile away. Who do they think they are fooling?